Friday, December 16, 2005
DualCor's cPC Blends Windows Mobile 5 and Windows XP in One Device
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 12:36 PM
"DualCor Technologies next month will unveil the cPC, a full-fledged handheld Windows XP computer that also comes with a built-in smart phone that runs Windows Mobile 5.0. The cPC is 6.5 inches long, 3.3 inches wide, 1.2 inches thick and has a 5-inch diagonal screen. It will be aimed at sales representatives and executives who travel extensively, said CEO Steven Hanley, who joined the company seven months ago. There are signs of demand for such a device. A small but growing number of white-collar workers have begun to trade in their notebooks for BlackBerrys and other handhelds."
When Pocket PC Thoughts reader ecard mentioned DualCor back in October, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. I thought people were getting it confused with Ultra Mobile 2007, but it looks like I was completely incorrect. This device looks...interesting. There are definitely times I've wished my Pocket PC could do more, but I'm not at all convinced that I want a full-blown copy of Windows XP with me at all times, having to look after an OS that needs monthly patches. The cPC seems to address this issue by offering the user the best of both worlds. I definitely need to see how this will work, because having a device that does both well (with 40 GB of storage on it to boot!) is no small feat.
Raphael Salgado, who alerted us of the story, offers us up some commentary about the proposed features:
"It's a true hybrid Pocket PC and Tablet PC device, running both Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, respectively. It's target price is $1500 and they will offer volume discounts. Think of the price of the Universal plus $500 or so, but with much more functionality. It's scheduled for release in March 2006 around CES, comparatively very soon to market! If this files, this could blow away the entire OQO line and the Vulcan FlipStart PC, both of which are just handtop PCs with an average/estimated price of $2000, respectively. The OQO is already out (sporting mediocre battery life) and the FlipStart PC still remains vaporware. The 1.5GHz VIA processor would prove sufficient while maintaining good battery life, and the Windows Mobile side has an Intel PXA (XScale processor). While most Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC devices have 64 to 128MB of Flash ROM, this device will have 1GB of FlashROM for the OS, not to mention the 40GB hard drive, the 128MB of RAM, and the (separate?) 1GB of memory for its PC side. Now that's a lot of space! Its dimensions are 6.5 x 3.3 x 1.2 inches. In comparison, the Universal's dimensions are very roughly 5 x 3 x 0.8 (using a ruler to measure mine). It will be bigger than the largest Pocket PC Phone Edition, but the tradeoff of PC functionality and the likelihood of Bluetooth implementation for headset use may be worth the difference."
So what do you think - a device that will rock the mobile world, and re-define the gap between Windows Mobile and Windows XP? Or another doomed-to-fail effort at creating the "perfect" mobile device?
When Pocket PC Thoughts reader ecard mentioned DualCor back in October, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. I thought people were getting it confused with Ultra Mobile 2007, but it looks like I was completely incorrect. This device looks...interesting. There are definitely times I've wished my Pocket PC could do more, but I'm not at all convinced that I want a full-blown copy of Windows XP with me at all times, having to look after an OS that needs monthly patches. The cPC seems to address this issue by offering the user the best of both worlds. I definitely need to see how this will work, because having a device that does both well (with 40 GB of storage on it to boot!) is no small feat.
Raphael Salgado, who alerted us of the story, offers us up some commentary about the proposed features:
"It's a true hybrid Pocket PC and Tablet PC device, running both Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, respectively. It's target price is $1500 and they will offer volume discounts. Think of the price of the Universal plus $500 or so, but with much more functionality. It's scheduled for release in March 2006 around CES, comparatively very soon to market! If this files, this could blow away the entire OQO line and the Vulcan FlipStart PC, both of which are just handtop PCs with an average/estimated price of $2000, respectively. The OQO is already out (sporting mediocre battery life) and the FlipStart PC still remains vaporware. The 1.5GHz VIA processor would prove sufficient while maintaining good battery life, and the Windows Mobile side has an Intel PXA (XScale processor). While most Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC devices have 64 to 128MB of Flash ROM, this device will have 1GB of FlashROM for the OS, not to mention the 40GB hard drive, the 128MB of RAM, and the (separate?) 1GB of memory for its PC side. Now that's a lot of space! Its dimensions are 6.5 x 3.3 x 1.2 inches. In comparison, the Universal's dimensions are very roughly 5 x 3 x 0.8 (using a ruler to measure mine). It will be bigger than the largest Pocket PC Phone Edition, but the tradeoff of PC functionality and the likelihood of Bluetooth implementation for headset use may be worth the difference."
So what do you think - a device that will rock the mobile world, and re-define the gap between Windows Mobile and Windows XP? Or another doomed-to-fail effort at creating the "perfect" mobile device?
